KingCubsFan

Somebody will give Orton a starting job, won't they? Hopefully Hanie already has a high school coaching position locked up.

You'd entertain trading Deng and Noah for James Harden?

Are there better systems now? I don't follow college basketball too closely.

I sound butt hurt because I'm...right? Kansas had one starter returning and lost arguably their three best players. They were 13th in the preseason Top 25 and will finish with a #1 seed in the tournament. It's not an egregious pick by any means. Compared to Iowa State and Missouri it certainly is(assuming we're using the standard COTY definition of most overachieving team) Was Missouri that much of an overachiever? They were ranked in the preseason. It's not like they came out nowhere, and they finished third in the conference in RPI. Again, not saying Self was the best pick, but it's not something to use as the basis for a conspiracy theory.

I sound butt hurt because I'm...right? Kansas had one starter returning and lost arguably their three best players. They were 13th in the preseason Top 25 and will finish with a #1 seed in the tournament. It's not an egregious pick by any means.

So: Howard Boozer Hedo BG7 Rose If we get 'good hedo' thats a prettyy good team. That would really put Thibs' defensive planning to the test. That's a great defender, a pretty good defender, and three absolutely horrific defenders. If that were the starting lineup, I think Taj would get more minutes than Boozer.

What option do they have, though? Maybe Allen, but I think Mayo and Crawford are realistic targets. Mayo is not a realistic option as long as Heisley is the owner of the Grizzlies.

I don't really have a problem with a manager stressing good fundamentals like baserunning, bunting, defensive positioning, etc. A manager is the most worthless head coach in all of sports, but there are limited aspects of the game that they can affect,and those are three of the biggest (pitcher usage is the biggest). The problem isn't when a manager stresses fundamentals, it's when he tries to build his team around them and ultimately causes management to acquire players that fit that image or plays inferior players because they fit that image. We know Theo isn't going to acquire a bunch of Juan Pierres to placate Sveum, and Sveum hasn't indicated he wants to lead the league in bunts. A lot of this probably stems from him (a) watching the Cubs as the Brewers bench coach and seeing on a yearly basis how bad they are at these things, and (2) realizing that the Cubs don't have a lot of talent, so they'll have to execute the simple things if they want to be competitive. It doesn't hurt him that the media has embraced this crap.

Avril got franchised.

Any talk on the Bears going after Mario Williams? Him and Peppers would be unstoppable.

We'd have to give them Watson or Brewer as well.

Bobcats pick. I would do it. It's tough to give that pick up for a short term upgrade but Ray Allen is a player that can make a legit difference against the Heat. I wouldn't. I don't see Allen making a huge difference against the Heat when we already have Rip as a SG and Korver and Watson as three point threats. I'd like to have him, but I'd rather keep the Bobcats pick for something more valuable. You don't see Ray Allen making a huge difference compared to the 12 minutes Hamilton will be healthy for and the corpse of Kyle Korver? I'm assuming Hamilton will be healthy for the playoffs. If his injuries progress beyond "my groin hurts/I don't feel like playing in the regular season," then maybe you reevaluate. But the Bobcats pick is one of our few assets capable of getting a difference maker in the next few years. I don't want to use it on a guy who will be a free agent next year and whose strength (three point shooting) is already on the team. It's not like Allen is going to be able to defend Wade, or strengthen our interior defense to keep James and Wade out of the lane. And he won't be able to take significant pressure off of Rose by creating his own shot. If we're really looking for weaknesses on this team, those are the things I would give up that draft pick in order to improve and beat the Heat. A marginal improvement doesn't do it for me.

Bobcats pick. I would do it. It's tough to give that pick up for a short term upgrade but Ray Allen is a player that can make a legit difference against the Heat. I wouldn't. I don't see Allen making a huge difference against the Heat when we already have Rip as a SG and Korver and Watson as three point threats. I'd like to have him, but I'd rather keep the Bobcats pick for something more valuable.

Yep. The referees should have gotten Artest out of there as soon as Ben Wallace was separated from him. No reason to let him lay down on the scorer's table for 2 minutes and let him put on some headphones. People might not have known players would run into the stands, but the referees should have been very prepared for the fact that Artest would do something crazy and to get him out of there ASAP in order to mitigate the risk.

Josh Vitters will have a BABIP and PCL-fueled OPS between .850-.900. The board will fall in love with him, culminating in one of the posters who makes outlandish trade proposals suggesting that the Devil Rays would go for a David Price/Vitters swap. Theo sells high next offseason and trades him for a starter. We sign him several years later as a minor league free agent.

Any 36 year old is going to be a tough sell even if they're not making 18 mil/year. However, if we pick up 100% of his remaining salary, we might be able to rake in someone like a Brian Marusz, Zach Britton, Wade Davis, or Brett Cecil but even then we could end up tossing in something else. Did Matusz and Britton have their left arms amputated?

Brett Jackson comes up in June and has the highest WAR among NL CFers for the rest of the year.

James was on a 10 day contract. If we picked him up, his contract would be guaranteed for the rest of the season. Lucas's contract is already guaranteed for the rest of the season, and I'm sure Jerry doesn't want to get any closer to that luxury tax.

Not as bad as he thought it would be is not the same as liking it. He's also basing the entire thing on the assumption that catching metrics are way off and Yadi is a 4 WAR player. And the ridiculous notion that a 1 WAR=5 million dollars and a 4 WAR player is somehow worth $20 million dollars in real life.

What if late in a lost year the team was auditioning a guy who was clearly lacking for a role on the following year's team? Or if a scrappy but terrible vet was getting too much playing time and blocking a better, younger player? I have to say I've rooted against Cubs players in such scenarios, but only because I thought their short term failure would serve the mid-long term interests of the team. Even then I'm not rooting against them. I'm "rooting against" the stupid decision, but when it's time for the game I just want to see the team to win. That was hard to do with the old management. You knew they'd take a small sample size and justify bringing the player back/giving him a major role. With Theo, you know they won't use trade Rizzo for a veteran starter if LaHair puts up an .850 OPS during the first two months of the season.

I always thought it was hilarious when some analysts would cite RG3's speed and mobility as a reason to take him over Luck, basically implying that Luck was Peyton Manning. I've never heard anyone that knows what they are talking about question Luck's athletic ability. Honestly, he reminds me of Peyton Manning's brain on Rich Gannon's body. Gannon was one of the best athletes to ever play QB at a high level. Probably only behind Steve Young and Randall Cunningham. I think you forgot Michael Vick.

Did you just group Carlos Marmol with John Gaub and Casey Weathers?

More likely, I think, next year Dempster will be that MOR type guy (if he's back) and we'll be looking for somebody to pair with Garza as a TOR type guy. I'm not a big Maholm fan anyway, and tend to doubt he'll be pitching his best at 32. I agree with you. Maholm is strictly a #5 starter candidate on a good/decent team. With his contract, I expect him to be traded at the deadline if he shows something. Players with similar WAR to Paul Maholm: Max Scherzer Shawn Marcum Ivan Nova Jhoulys Chachin Trevor Cahill Kyle Lohse Colby Lewis Bud Norris Wandy Rodriguez Mike Leake Paul Maholm is a #4/5 on good teams.

Hopefully this means Theo will go into a "win at all costs" mindset to beat Lucchino.

What exactly has been strange about our moves (except Reed Johnson)? Weren't there two guys they acquired and then released? They let a somewhat useful guy go in the rule 5 draft for seemingly no reason. They've completely abandoned any hope for 2012 without any need for doing so. And they brought back Reed Johnson. I'd say there's been some strangeness going on around here. And they've also had the overhang of Theo compensation the entire offseason. I don't believe they were outright released, they were just dropped from the 40 man. The other moves are just moves you disagreed with. Doesn't mean they were "strange," such as making your two big signings of the offseason guys who play the same position, or acquiring a surplus of outfielders for the fun of it.